When the Second World War began, Theodor Meron was a Jewish-born boy of just nine. He survived ghettos, camps, and unimaginable atrocities, but lost most of his family, finding sanctuary in British Palestine after the Holocaust. Now, more than eight decades later, Judge Meron is a recognized world leader in both the scholarship and practice of international criminal justice—having served as the president of three UN tribunals, delivering landmark decisions on genocide and war crimes.
This extraordinary memoir revisits Meron's time as a legal adviser to governments, often swimming against the tide; as a restless diplomat, a boundary-pushing scholar, and ultimately a groundbreaking international judge. Meron has given his life to the service of justice. He is famous for his 1967 opinion finding Jewish settlements in the occupied West Bank to be illegal under international law, an opinion he issued as a legal adviser to Israel's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. More recently, he has advised the International Criminal Court on potential crimes in the Russia-Ukraine war, and in Israel and Gaza since 2023.
The founding institutions of international justice today face unprecedented threats. Meron's life story could not be a better timed reminder of the importance of accountability.
